Supporting device for artificial eyes



Nov 23 1926.

A. KONOFF SUPPORTING DEVICE FOR ARTIFICIAL EYES Filed March 1 1924 w 3 MZ G v Patented Nov. 23, 1 926.

I UNITED STATES ALEXANDER xonorr, or imw Yoax, N. Y

ASSIGNOR TO OVERLAND METAL NOVELTY CO. INC., OF YORK, N. Y, ACORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SUPPORTING DEVICE FOR ARTIFICIAL EYES.

Application ii led March 19, 1924. Serial No. 700,872.

This invention relates to a supporting device for artificial eyes suchas are used 1n the manufacture of childrens dolls and the like.

It is now common practice'to make these eyes as a pair of suitablyornamented spherical members mounted upon a carrying rod which issupported interiorly of the dolls head upon a suitable bracket and toconnect a weighted lever with this rod so that the rod and eyeballs willbe oscillated back and forth as the doll is moved from upright toreclining position. I In the manufacture of dolls heads 1t appears to bequite V impractical, if not impossible, to make a number thereof ofexact-l the same shape and proportion, and this is particularly truewith respect to the sockets into which the eyeballs are intended to fit.On this account various means have been provided for enabling convenientad: justment of the eyeballs with respect to each other upon theirsupporting rod so that the eyeballs may be made to properly cooperatewith the sockets of diflerent heads.

In many of these devices the bracket uplon which the carrying rod issupported as been held in position by being cemented to the material ofthe dolls head, and, in many instances it has been found that the cementused, in drying and hardening has resulted in a certain amount ofdistortion of the doll head suflicient in many cases to cause. theeyeballs to bind against the walls of their sockets.

It is .an object of the present invention therefore to provide abracket, and a means of adjustment therefor by which the use of cementis eliminated and by which no occasion is givenfor any distortion of thedoll head or eye sockets due to the presence of said bracket or itsattaching means, and a further object is to'so construct the bracketthat it may be readily and efiiciently adjusted, after attachment, toproperly seat the eyeballs in their respective sockets.

A more detailed object is to provide a bracket designed to be held inPOSltlOD within the dolls head by a suitable retaining bolt, andcomprising means whereby, after the bracket hasbeen set and ltsfastemngbolt fully applied, spaced ortions of the bracket may be individual-y adusted to bring the a jacent respective eyeballmto a proper fittingrelation with its socket.

which is mounted in bracket Other objects and aims of the invention,more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in partobvious and in part pointed out in the course of the followingdescription of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts andapplications of principles, constituting the invention, and the scope ofprotection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of'thisspecification, and in which I have shown merely a pre- Eerred form ofembodiment of the inven- 1011 Figure 1 is a vertical sectional viewthrough a dolls head having eyes and a supporting bracket thereforconstructed in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially upon theplane of IIII of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken izubstzi ntially upon theplane of IIL-III of Referring to the drawings for describing in detailthe structure therein illustrated, the I reference character L indicatesthe dolls head having the usual eye sockets 2 and 3 therein. Theeyeballs are indicated by the reference character G and are shown to becarried upon a common supporting rod' 4.- and to which is connected theusual weighted lever 5. The rod 4 is adapted to oscillate in spacedbearings 6 provided by the bracket H'under the influence of the lever 5whenever the doll is moved from an upright to a reclining position. andvice versa. It will be apparent that the eyeballs although requiring tohave a proper close fit with the sockets 2 and 3 must nevertheless besufiiciently clear of engagement with the walls of said sockets so thatno impediment will be offered to the free movement of the eyeballswhenever the doll is moved.

The bracket H comprises an upper plate 7 from which depends an extension8 to which the rod 4 is connected. The late 7 has at its upper end anopening 9 t rough which extends a bolt 10. This bolt is carried in anopening 11 formed through the material of the doll head at the top ofthe forehead port1on thereof and its outer end is preferably concealedbeneath the scalp part as 12, of the doll head. f

The purpose of this bolt is to hold the upper end portion of the plate 7rigidly connected with the adjacent portion of the doll head. and tothis end the drawing illustrates the use of a nut 13 at the inner end ofthe .bolt disposed for pressing an interposed with the opening 11 of thedoll head, and on this account the opening 9, as illustrated, is madeconsiderably larger than the opening 11 and bolt 10, and the washer 14is made in such proportions as to straddle the opening 9 and to therebyserve as an eflicient clamp element between the nut and plate 7.

This washer 14 is also preferably made so as to be slightly resilientfor thereby providing a certain amount of resiliency in the structure sothat the tightening of the nut will not be likely to injure the materialof the doll head, while yet permitting a slight movement of the platerelative to the head upon occasion.

Suitable projections 15 may be provided upon the plate adjacent to theopening 9 for being forced into the material of the doll head, when thenut is screwed home, to prevent accidental movement of the plate withrespect to the doll head.

Spaced downwardly from the plane of the fastening bolt 10 is a pair ofadjusting screws 16 and 17 carried by the plate and disposed oneadjacent each of the eyeballs G. These screws extend through threadedapertures 18 provided in the plate and have their inner or forward endsarranged for engaging against the adjacent inner surface portions of thedoll head whereby inward or forward adjustment of the screws willoperate to spring or bend the plate back for lifting the respectiveeyeballs freeof engagement with the walls of their sockets.

By disposing these screws spaced apart and in close proximity to therespective eyeballs it is possible to lift either of the eyes ballsindependently of its neighbor. If one eyeball continues to bind againstits socket walls it is simply necessary to rotate the adjacent screw andthereby lift that particular eyeball free. I

The resilient character of the plate 7 will permit the easy backwardmovement of the eyeballs by meansof these screws and yet will at alltimesthereafter exert a suflicient resilient pressure against the screwsand of the screws against the opposing doll head surfaces, to preventany unintentional rotation or consequent failure of adjustment, of thescrews.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. A supporting device for doll eyescomprising a bracket adapted for carrying the eyes in the usual manner,means for fixing the bracket within a doll head, and means carried bythe bracket associated with said eyes independently of each other andbeing manually adjustable upon the bracket for thereby adjusting theeyes indep .ndently of each other with respect to the doll head.

A supporting device for doll eyes comprising a bracket for carrying theeyes in the usual manner, means for fixing the bracket within a dollhead. said bracket being flexible, and a pair of adjusting screwscarried by the bracket one adjacent each of the eyes having partsarranged to engage adjacent portions of the doll head whereby to adjustthe eyes independently with respect to the doll head. a

3. A supporting device for doll eyes comprising a bracket adapted forcarrying the eyes in the usual manner, said bracket being flexible.means for fixing the bracket within adoll head interengaging between thedoll head and a portion ofthe bracket spaced relatively far from theeyes, and means relatively closer to the eyes associated with the eyesindependently of each other and being manually operable to flex thebracket for thereby adjusting the eyes independently of each other withrespect to the doll head.

4. A supporting device for doll eyes comprising a plate to which theeyes are connected and which has a part adapted to rest againstthe innersurface of the doll head when the eyes are arranged in their sockets,means for fixing said mentioned part of the plate within the doll head,and a par of screws carried by another partof the plate spaced away fromeach other one adjacent each eye being rotatably adjustable to adjustthe relation of the eyes to their sockets respectively.

5. A supporting device for doll eyes comprising a plate to which theeyes are connected and which has a part adapted to rest against theinner surface of the doll head when the eyes are arranged in theirsockets, means for fixing said mentioned'part of the plate within thedoll head, said plate being flexible, and a pair of manually operabledevices one adjacent each of the eyes operable to flex the plate and tothereby adjust the position of the eyes respectively with relation totheir sockets. v

6. A supporting device for doll eyes comprising a plate to which theeyes are con- .nected and which has a part adapted to rest against theinner surface of the doll head when the eyes are arranged m theirsockets.

a bolt carried by the doll head, said mentioned part of the plate havingan opening therethrough to receive thebolt, said opening being enlargedin all radial directions with respect to the diameter of the bolt forthereby allowing variation in its position'in all radial directions withrespect to the bolt, and a clamp memberprovided upon said bolt forclamping the plate in any adjusted posi -i tion against the doll head.

7 A supporting device for doll eyes comprising a plate to which the eyesare connected and which has a part adapted to rest against the innersurface of the doll head when the eyes'are arranged in their sockets,

against the doll head, and a spring washer 25 member and Ipurpose setorth.

ereof I aflix my slgnature.

ALEXANDER KONOFF.

interposed between said clam the platefor the In testimony w

